Joining Hands Against Hunger
NEWSLETTER
Sixth Edition, March 2008

Bolivia

Update on UMAVIDA

by Bob and Julie Dunsmore

Our partner network in Bolivia, Joining Hands for Life or "Uniendo Manos por la Vida", is involved in two causes that are supported by most of Latin America and many countries around the world.

New draft for constitution

In 2008 UMAVIDA is focusing much of its time and energy on helping the people of Bolivia study and evaluate the new draft for a National Constitution, the product of the work of over 200 representatives over a period of more than a year.

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This draft which provides better protection of human rights and of the natural resources of the country will be placed before the citizens for a referendum vote on May 3 of this year. For a people with five hundred years of slavery to decipher how to become involved in the re-founding of their country through this new Constitution, this is a task worthy of your support, prayers and celebration.

The right to clean water

In addition, this year UMAVIDA has chosen to initiate an international campaign with the theme of access to pure water as a God-given right of every living being on the planet. "Clean Water -- More Precious than Gold!" is the call .

"Clean Water -- More Precious than Gold!"

"Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? When you drink clean water, must you muddy the rest of the water by trampling it with your feet?"

Ezekiel 34:18

The focus of the campaign is to research and make public the contamination and degradation of surface and subsurface sources of fresh water by extractive, industrial and other activities. In other words, to announce and find ways to prevent further contamination of drinking water by mining (and other) industry around the world, but especially in Bolivia and in our sister Presbyteries.

 

International Youth Congress on the Environment in Potosí, Bolivia,

In January, youth of Bolivia, Canada, Peru and the United States (from Cascade and San Francisco
Presbyteries) attended the first International Youth Congress on the Environment in Potosí, Bolivia, sponsored by UMAVIDA network.

Uma

For thousands of years, water has been one of the sacred elements of the people of the Andes. The Aymara and Quechua people, two of the original people groups here, consider the Earth to symbolize in essence the nurturing, feminine aspect of God, though not God itself. "Uma", or water, in the Aymara language, is considered to be the Earth's blood.

Potosi

For over five hundred years, eight million of the original people's ancestors died of exhaustion from the forced three-month work shifts inside the Cerro Rico silver mine in Potosí. Though once the richest and greatest city of the Western Hemisphere, Potosí today suffers from areas of highly contaminated water and is being stripped of its wealth: it has the distinction of being the poorest city in the poorest state in poorest country of South America.

SuperFund

In the U.S. the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, see also CERCLA statutes, CERCLA overview), commonly known as SuperFund, is an environmental program of the Government, established to address abandoned hazardous waste sites in the wake of the discovery of toxic waste dumps like Love Canal and Times Beach in the 1970s. Enacted by the US Congress on December 11, 1980, this law allows the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to identify areas where mining activity in the past have severely contaminated the soil and water, to clean up such sites and to compel responsible parties to perform cleanups or reimburse the government for EPA-lead cleanups.

Bolivia does not have the resources to establish a SuperFund and needs to fnd other creative solutions to resolve this desperate problem.

The Youth Congress was an effort to join hands and hearts internationally to look at the contamination of drinking water and other issues, in an effort to find new ways to restore God's Creation. Many of us were encouraged to learn of efforts by youth in the different countries to address these problems, and were very inspired by this opportunity to share together. Next year a second International Youth Congress will be held in Perú to continue this process, hosted by the Joining Hands network in Peru. We invite all the countries and Presbyteries of the Joining Hands network, and everyone seeking justice for this tormented planet, to join hands with UMAVIDA's Water campaign and next year's Youth Congress.

Youth Congress Meets

by Joan Huff, Secretary San Fransisco JH Task Force

The Youth Congress on the Environment sponsored by UMAVIDA in Potosi, Bolivia, January 10 – 13, 2008, was a life-changing event for the San Francisco youth who attended.Jessica Brown, Sarah Harling, Rachel Medema and Jeremy Stokes returned ready to work on local California water issues in response to the presentations they heard by Bolivian young people.

Blake, the Canadian delegate; Sarah Harling, Alberth, a Cochabamban delegate, Rachel Medema, and Saúl, another Cochabamban delegate at the conference.

Presenters ranged in age from 14-year old high school students to 30-year old environmental engineers, all of whom listened respectfully to one another. The social engagement and awareness of the Bolivian youth encouraged the USA youth to commit themselves to work within the democratic processes of our country, which we too often discount or take for granted. The Bolivian youth are working on projects connected to water pollution due to mining or factories. They encouraged the USA youth to work on local issues in their home states. The Californians plan a campaign to encourage our churches and communities to stop buying bottled water and to drink tap water instead, to save the cost of production of plastic bottles and to use public water rather than that bottled and sold by private corporations.

Sarah Harling on the far left with other participants at the congress standing in front of one of the exhibits the youth displayed on the Plaza in Potosi.

In addition to the work of the congress, the youth enjoyed one another’s company as they shared music with each other and did their best to overcome language and translation challenges. The disparity between the affluence of life in California and the poverty of life in Bolivia was almost overwhelming to those youth who had never traveled in Central or South America. The bonding that occurred in the commitment of all the youth to work together for a better environment, which we all share, holds promise of continuing relationships. Plans for a second congress to be held in Peru have already begun.

Rachel and Sarah on the way back to La Paz from Potosí.

Spring Delegation To Travel To Bolivia From San Fransisco

Susan Hunn is organizing a spring trip for eight Bay Area travelers who will visit UMAVIDA in May of 2008. Training events will be held in March and April, which will help to prepare this group which has not yet been to Bolivia. The four youth who are recently returned from the Youth Congress will help to orient their elders and share their experiences of this challenging travel experience. Julie and Bob Dunsmore will also help to design the trip so that the group will have plenty of opportunities to listen to the members of UMAVIDA as they tell their stories of life in Bolivia.

A young llama herder and his flock

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